ISLAMORADA, VILLAGE OF ISLANDS VILLAGE COUNCIL WORKSHOP. Founders Park Community Center Overseas Hwy Islamorada, FL 33036

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1 ISLAMORADA, VILLAGE OF ISLANDS VILLAGE COUNCIL WORKSHOP Founders Park Community Center Overseas Hwy Islamorada, FL Tuesday, July 1, 2014 at 1:00 PM I. CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL In attendance: Mayor Ted Blackburn, Vice Mayor Deb Gillis, Councilman Dave Purdo, Councilman Mike Forster, Councilman Ken Philipson, Village Manager Maria Aguilar, Village Attorney Roget Bryan, Village Clerk Kelly Toth, Assistant to the Village Manager Mary Swaney and other appropriate personnel. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Judy Hull. Mayor Ted Blackburn opened up public comment. Ms. Angel Borden expressed concern about the noise ordinance. Mayor Blackburn closed public comment. III. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION A. Community Character Taskforce Recommendations TAB 1 Recommendation 1: Council adopts the unabridged definition of Community Character and include it in the Village s Comprehensive Plan and Code of Ordinances. Mayor Ted Blackburn opened discussion regarding the first recommendation. Discussion ensued regarding the placement of the definition of community character and whether to use the entire definition or the summary. The following locations were discussed: Code of Ordinances, Village website, library, budget book/cafr, Articles of Incorporation and the Comprehensive Plan. Committee Member Bob Johnson spoke in favor of using the entire document. Committee Member Pete Bacheler suggested placing the entire document in the Comprehensive Plan directly following the section titled: Goal 1-1: Implement Future Land Use Vision. Captain Ed Davidson and Pastor Tony Hammon spoke in support of incorporating the document in the Comprehensive Plan. Council agreed to incorporate the entire document in the Comprehensive Plan and requested that staff provides additional suggestions for appropriate locations. Mayor Ted Blackburn closed public comment. Page 1 of 6

2 Recommendation 2: no alcoholic beverages to be sold within 500 feet of child care facilities, schools and places of worship. Councilman Ken Philipson expressed his support for Recommendation 2 and stated that he would like to add marijuana to the recommendation. Director of Planning Cheryl Cioffari clarified how Alcoholic Beverage Permits are obtained/transferred, stating that licenses stays with the property. Councilman Ken Philipson supports no new Alcoholic Beverage Permits granted within 500 feet. He stated that hotels should be excluded and that existing licenses would remain. Councilman Mike Forster commented that any new development would have to meet this criteria based on the way it is written. Discussion ensued regarding a 300 foot versus 500 foot limitation and the issuance of Alcohol Beverage Licenses for establishments as opposed to special events. Village Attorney Roget Bryan suggested staff provide Council with an inventory analysis of the existing establishments with Alcohol Beverage Licenses. Committee Member Pete Bacheler stated that Alcohol Beverage Permit approval is property-specific and that the committee considered a range of distances from sensitive locations. Director of Planning Cheryl Cioffari stated staff will review the existing inventory that falls within the 300 and 500 foot boundaries to determine the number of properties to be affected. Mayor Ted Blackburn closed public comment. Recommendation 3: Council considers the carryover of cumulative square footage of use to three or less lots by a super majority vote. Committee Member Pete Bacheler spoke about the current zoning of Village Center. He stated that according to current Village Code, if a building is destroyed it cannot be reconstructed exactly as it was, as the property owner must comply with current code requirements. Mr. Bacheler suggested revising the Village Code. Discussion ensued regarding zero lot lines and non conforming use. Director of Planning Cheryl Cioffari provided clarification and suggested reviewing the non-conforming use section of the code; formalizing existing uses in excess of 5,000 feet; considering the purpose and intent of the code and potentially modifying the size of uses in Village Center. Councilman Mike Forster spoke in support of moving forward with non-conforming on pre-existing structures. He stated a property owner has a right to rebuild their structure as it was before. Councilman Forster spoke in support of a super majority vote by Council on new construction permit applications. Councilman Ken Philipson spoke in favor of zero lot lines for new construction. Vice Mayor Deb Gillis supports changing the Village Code to allow property owners to reconstruct to the same square footage with the same use. Page 2 of 6

3 Committee Member Bob Johnson stated that it was the intent of the Committee to address the anomaly between Village Center and the rest of the Village. Ms. Angel Borden spoke in favor of owners being allowed to rebuild businesses to pre-disaster sizes and uses; and not penalizing business owners that wish to remodel their business. Mayor Ted Blackburn closed public comment. Recommendation 4: Council place on the referendum limiting new commercial development to a 10,000 square foot maximum with an exception for places of worship, educational facilities, museums, existing structures and applications in the pipeline as of the effective date of this amendment. Councilman Mike Forster stated he does not support this as a referendum. He spoke in support of a 10,000 square feet maximum, but allowing major conditional use applications for consideration by Council and approved only by a super majority vote for additional square footage. Councilman Ken Philipson stated he is in favor of major conditional use for anything over 5000 square feet in all zoning districts except Village Center. Councilman Philipson also discussed the definition of sprawl. Vice Mayor Deb Gillis spoke in support of a 10,000 square foot limitation in all districts excluding those listed in the recommendation as well as convention centers and hotels, and of requiring a super majority vote by Council for additional square footage. Council discussion ensued regarding a referendum petition being circulated by the public. Captain Ed Davidson commented on the difference between clustering and strip zoning. Committee Member Bob Johnson suggested Council work with the petitioners regarding the wording of the referendum question. Ms. Sandi Basciglia spoke about the need to consider the definition of educational facilities as it applies to for profit schools and for profit day care centers. Mayor Ted Blackburn closed public comment Councilman Forster stated that he did not think the petitioners would be receptive to the super majority vote requirement. Mayor T Blackburn stated that Council will not know if the community wants the 10,000 square foot limitation until the election and suggested the conversation be continued at a later date. Recommendation 5: Increase density to buffers and/or setbacks for intense developments contiguous to residential homes and neighborhoods. (Discussion regarding Recommendations 5 and 6 was combined) Committee Member Bob Johnson explained the Committee s recommendation for buffers. Director of Planning Cheryl Cioffari stated the current buffer requirements are 20 foot class D. Recommendation 6: Require an eight foot solid wall for nonresidential development between and along parcels that are contiguous to residential uses and residential zoning. Vice Mayor Deb Gillis suggested exercising caution with regards to erecting walls, citing the frequency of businesses interspersed among residential areas in the Village and expressed concern over putting up Page 3 of 6

4 walls that could unintentionally box a homeowner in. Vice Mayor Gillis suggested the decision be made through site plan development review or major conditional use review. Councilman Mike Forster suggested the Village mirror the mitigation process undertaken for the two recent supermarket applications submitted for review. Director of Planning Cheryl Cioffari suggested this be handled through a conditional use application. Ms. Cioffari spoke about double density buffers and cited the effectiveness of such as used by the Home Depot in Marathon. Mayor Ted Blackburn and Vice Mayor Gillis spoke in favor of the double density buffers. Mayor Blackburn opened public comment. Committee Member Bob Johnson spoke of the intensive of landscaping for the Winn Dixie project and suggested that residents should be protected by the Village s Code of Ordinances. Captain Ed Davidson recommended vegetative buffers. Ms. Angel Borden spoke against 8 foot walls with regard to natural disasters and view obstruction. Mr. Buddy Pinder spoke in support of increasing the buffer density and stated people should have to maintain buffers suggesting that if the vegetation dies the property owner should have to replace it. Committee Member Myles Milander spoke in support of double density buffers and stated that in some cases a wall will be wanted. Mayor Blackburn closed public comment. Councilman Forster spoke in support of double density buffers if the adjacent property owner concurred. Vice Mayor Gillis and Councilman Forster spoke in support of leaving the existing Village Code as it is. Mayor Blackburn suggested things be left as they are and continue to be handled through the site plan review process. Recommendation 7: Council consider a super majority vote for site plan approval for development over 10,000 square feet. Council agreed with the Committee s recommendation for a super majority vote. Ms. Phyllis Mitchell suggested having the neighbors affected by potential walls proposed in Recommendation 6 speak on the matter. She requested information about the buffers for the Publix development. Ms. Mitchell requested that for projects as large as Publix, the Landscape Advisory Committee be provided the opportunity to review the landscaping plans. Director of Planning Cheryl Cioffari stated Environmental Planner Susan Sprunt has been working with the applicant s landscape architect regarding the use of appropriate species and that the applicant is using predominantly native vegetation and planting canopy trees in the parking lot. Ms. Cioffari expects, upon completion, the project to be code compliant. She addressed the buffer for this project. Recommendation 8: Council eliminates drive-throughs except for financial institutions. Councilman Ken Philipson suggested limiting the hours of operation, lighting, exterior amplification of sound at drive-through establishments and to control the environment in which drive-throughs operate. Discussion ensued with regards to limiting drive-throughs to banks and pharmacies. Page 4 of 6

5 Village Attorney Roget Bryan suggested an analysis of potential impacts of such limitations to banks and pharmacies. Committee Member Pete Bacheler inquired whether gas stations and car washes were considered drivethroughs. Committee Member Tony Hammon suggested that Council define a drive-through in the Village Code. Committee Member Bob Johnson spoke in support of exempting certain types of businesses. Ms. Phyllis Mitchell spoke in support of restricting drive- throughs to pharmacies and banks. Ms. Angel Borden spoke in favor of getting community input prior to creating more legislation. Vice Mayor Deb Gillis spoke in favor of the idea of exempting certain types of businesses and suggested consideration be given to hours of operation and exterior lighting. Councilman Dave Purdo suggested staff come back with suggestions regarding restrictions to lighting and hours of operations. Recommendation 9: Council considers providing incentives for businesses that come into compliance with the definition of community character. Vice Mayor Deb Gillis suggested looking for grants that may apply to this recommendation. Councilman Ken Philipson asked for a definition of incentives. He suggested it needed to be something definitive that everyone could qualify for. He stated that lacking defined goals makes it difficult to provide incentives. Committee Member Tony Hammon suggested tax incentives to businesses. Recommendation 10: Council determines the level of service (LOS) for traffic by segments rather than overall County LOS. Director of Planning Cheryl Cioffari stated that about nine months ago staff began evaluating LOS in terms of highway segments rather than overall County LOS. Ms. Cioffari spoke to the development benefits associated with switching to overall County LOS. Councilman Mike Forster and Vice Mayor Deb Gillis spoke against this recommendation. Recommendation 11: Council takes more punitive measures against buildings that have been abandoned for one year or more. Village Attorney Roget Bryan stated that there are code enforcement provisions allowing the Village to abate nuisances. Discussion ensued regarding use of the vacant parcel registry and collection of expenses and liens. Village Attorney Roget Bryan stated the Village does not have a provision in place for collection of liens. He stated he was involved in the development of such legislation in Broward County and that collection of liens via the tax roll has proven successful as a mechanism to gain compliance. Captain Ed Davidson referenced demolition of the Quay property in Marathon by the City. Ms. Angel Borden spoke in support of offering incentives. Mayor Blackburn closed public comment. Page 5 of 6

6 B. Community Redevelopment TAB 2 Councilman Ken Philipson suggested the formation of Community Redevelopment Agencies ( CRA) in specific geographic areas, and with tax increases in those areas funds can be bonded for other uses. He suggested expanding the downtown area to include the two new super markets under development as he anticipates a sizeable increase in tax revenues. Councilman Philipson spoke in favor of using CRA funds to develop the downtown area to create an environment conducive to pedestrian traffic, as well as additional parking for the Morada Way Arts & Cultural district. He stated he would like a future workshop to discuss CRAs. Discussion ensued regarding debt service, funding for specific districts, Village wide limited growth rates of 2-3% and development of future funding mechanisms. (Council chose to address Tab 3 on the agenda at this time, skipping items C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J and L) K. Noise Ordinance TAB 3 Councilman Ken Philipson would like the Village s noise ordinance to mandate maximum of 85 decibels at a distance of four feet in front of the speakers. Discussion ensued regarding decibel levels, noise point of origin, and outdoor events/entertainment. Vice Mayor Deb Gillis stated law enforcement was not in favor of decibel limitations. She suggested enforcement of the Village s nuisance ordinance and citation as opposed to noise violations. Councilman Mike Forester stated he does not want to address something that is not actively a problem, noting the benefits that weddings have on the Village s economy. Mayor Blackburn spoke in support of a more comprehensive solution and stated that one decibel level cannot effectively apply to all situations. IV. ADJOURNMENT Councilman Dave Purdo made a motion to adjourn. Councilman Ken Philipson seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 4:24 PM. Kelly S. Toth Village Clerk Approved by the Village Council this 7th day of August, Page 6 of 6